Thursday – U19 28km individual time trial
Michael Hale and Bryce Morey represented Macdonald Shaw and Kelly Cycle Coaching in the Oceania Time trial.  The course was undulating and very windy.  Neither athlete had time trialled ove this distance as they have both stepped up from Junior U17 racing.   Also, Michael and Bryce have been focusing mainly on their road preparation for Sunday’s road race, so they did well, without any specific time trial training.

The winning time was 37min41 by Nick Schultz.  Michael Hale’s final time was 42min00, whilst Bryce completed the time trial in a time of 42min49.

Post time trial fatigue - Michael

Saturday – Elite Women’s 116km road race
Monica Kelly and Carley McKay both competed in the Elite women’s road race.  The conditions were windy with a 25C temperature making things tough for the girls.

Carley and Monica on the start line

As a recent convert from rowing, this was Carley’s very first road race.  The experience she gained was invaluable as she rode against Commonwealth Games champions and other internationally competitive women.  She was able to see what level of skill, tactical understanding and expertise is necessary to race against the best in the country.

Women start racing

Monica has just stepped out of the U19 level so this was her first event over 90km.  Monica rode very well and was with the lead pack until the final lap of 22km, where she got caught out in an acceleration and couldn’t get back on.  Asked afterwards how this raced compared to U19 racing and she said …”the girls are so much stronger and faster.  It was a bit sketchy early on but then things settled down.  I think I was too far back when a big move went and I just lost contact, but I am really happy with how I raced in my first elite race.”

Sunday – U19 Men’s 96km road race
None of our U19 boys had competed in the Oceania Championships before and understandably they all looked a bit anxious before the start.  After getting through the roll out (u19 riders are on restricted gears still so every bike needs to be checked to ensure they are not using a bigger gear than what is allowed) the riders were on the start line and ready to go.

James and Munro on the start line

With a few team vans in the race convoy (which are over the legally allowed convoy height and thus pushed to the back of the convoy) our team car, driven by Jim Morey was nicely slotted in at car position 3, giving us a great view of the entire race.  Mark Cummings and Alan Hale shared mechanical duties throughout the race.

After only 10km there was a massive crash that Hayden and Brad were caught up in.  Hayden landed in the grass and was back on his bike before we got to him.  Brad needed to fix his brakes and put in a huge chase to rejoin the bunch.  Two riders were unable to continue due to snapped bikes.

The chase back on took its toll on Brad who was back in the race cars over the next few rolling hills.  With encouragement from the team car, he chased back on twice but on the third attempt his legs refused to co-operate.

On lap 2, before the steepest climb James Cummings flatted.  He stopped on the wrong side of the road and had to wait for the race convoy to pass before he could get across to Shimano neutral support, waiting for him on the left side of the road.  He chased like crazy for 5km, got to the race convoy, worked his way through the cars, only to find the peloton was 200m ahead of the race convoy.  Typically, the race cars are only 20m behind the riders and making the final jump from the cars to the peleton is achievable.  James faced a block headwind and couldn’t bridge back to the peloton. 

On lap 3, Will Allen’s rear derailleur cracked and he needed a bike change.  Bryce, Scott and Camden were all just dangling off the main peleton when Will got a neutral bike but by then, the peleton was in a single line chasing attacks, and their combined chasing couldn’t get them to into the protetction of the team car convoy.

On the final lap, a break of 8 riders were away with another 10 or so chasing.  A third group of 15 riders, including Michael Hale, Clement and Munro Boydell and Liam White initially chased but with 12km to go, it was clear that they had sat up and decided with the windy conditions, they were unable to close the gap to the two groups in front of them.   Hayden Eynaud had a great ride, just losing contact on a hard crosswind section in the final lap.

Fellow carnegie club rider, Calvin Watson, who had bridged to the break at the end of lap 3, took out the win.

Post Oceania race debrief

Sunday – U23/Elite Men’s 160km road race

Trent Morey and Aaron Eynaud (U23 riders) were riding against elite riders, as the organiser had combind the U23 and elite events.  A crash after only 5km caused a bit of chaos with about 30 riders unable to rejoin, including Trent.  Fighting crosswinds, Trent chased hard but couldn’t get back to the peloton.  Aaron, who was also caught up behind the crash, did a great job to chase back on, and stayed with the peleton until only 2 laps to go. 

Averaging 42km/hr over hill terrain in windy conditions and 28C temperatures, eventually took its toll on Aaron who lost contact over a steep climb at the 108km mark.  Asked how he felt during the race, Aaron told us that ….”the hot conditions were just so dehydrating and he couldn’t drink enough water.  It was just so hot and windy and so fast.  They did the first 22km lap in 32mins”.  

Aaron did well to ride in an elite men’s peleton for over 100km as a first year U23 rider.  Well done Aaron.